INFLUENCE OF OFFENSES (3)
Sandarbhas

INFLUENCE OF OFFENSES (3)

Sisupala beheaded
Anuccheda 154
Devotees Bless a Simple-hearted Person

[The explanation of kauṭilya, or crookedness, is continued here.] Similarly, the devotees of Bhagavān also bless those who are simple-hearted yet ignorant, but not those who are crooked and scholarly, as Śrī Camasa told King Nimi:

“Many women, śūdras and others have no chance of hearing the narrations of Bhagavān or of singing the glories of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. They deserve to be blessed by devotees like you. Whereas the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, although having full facility to attain the lotus feet of Bhagavān Hari by virtue of their exalted birth and initiation into the study of the Vedas, are bewildered by the flowery language of the Vedas [that promote fruitive activities for the attainment of heaven].” (SB 11.5.4-5)

Svāmīpāda also comments: “In the first of these two verses, the sage Camasa declares that out of the various divisions of human beings mentioned in the two verses preceding this one, those who are ignorant should be favored by devotees like King Nimi. But by the second verse he intends to say that those who are proud of petty knowledge are incurable and should thus be avoided.”

 

Commentary (by Satyanarayana Dasa)

Śrī Camasa says that simple people should be blessed because it is useless to bless the crooked. The crooked will not accept the blessing and might even mock it within their mind if not explicitly. This is because the crooked consider themselves clever. Śrīdhara Svāmī calls them incurable because of those who are jñāna-lava-durvidagdha: proud of petty knowledge. King Bhartṛhari writes, “A fool can be pleased easily, and a learned can be pleased even more easily. But even Brahmā cannot satisfy a jñāna-lava-durvidagdha.”

This is a very common disease in modern times. Those who come to spiritual life generally are sick with this disease. This is because knowledge is freely available through cyber media. There is no need to study under a teacher by submitting to him or her in humility. Even those people who accept a guru do not have much faith in him. Cyber media is the real guru for them. They acquire half-baked knowledge and then argue relentlessly.

The other point to be noticed here is that sage Camasa is listing women and śūdras together and this may enrage women. Really speaking, sage Camasa is implying that these people are humble and simple-hearted and deserve to be blessed. They have a higher qualification even though they appear low in social status. This is much more important than the social status. But at present women should not feel offended because they are no more the way Camasa thought of them. They have happily and willingly joined the bandwagon of brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and vaiśya and have become quite qualified like them. Śūdras are not to be found anymore since the varṇāśrama system has collapsed. If you call someone a śūdra, you can be put behind bars because in India it is a non-bailable offense. In the past there were restrictions, but even śūdras were not barred from Hari-kathā or Hari-kīrtana. Everybody can participate in these activities.

The word āmnāya-vādī in this verse refers to people who are attached to the karma-kāṇḍa part of the Vedas and consider it as the “be all” and “end all” of their life. They are described by Kṛṣṇa:

“O Arjuna, those who are full of material desires consider heaven the highest goal. Devoted only to fruitive activities, they say that there is nothing else prescribed in the Vedas. Such foolish people who are attached to the materialistic goals described in the Vedas speak of their flowery words. These words exuberantly describe the various specific rites as the means to pleasure and power which result in rebirth. Those people, whose minds are carried away by such flowery words because of their deep attachment to pleasure and worldly powers, cannot attain resolute intelligence concentrated on God.” (Gītā 2.42-44)

 (to be continued)

 

4 Comments

  • Vāyu. October 10, 2017

    Probably all of us have committed certain faults in our past lives and will make some minor mistakes in our present existence. Therefore, if vaiṣṇavas offend one another consciously or unconsciously, we must learn about tolerance. But how tolerant should we be to the crooked one?

    Generally, a crooked individual is not able to assume his own crookedness because he projects it continuously on the others, even on the simple-hearted yet ignorant ones (akuṭilātmano’jñāḥ). Then, is it possible to help this stubborn person to achieve some degree of self-awareness or is he really an incurable (acikitsyaḥ) and avoidable (upekṣyaḥ) being?

    • Babaji October 11, 2017

      If the person is stubborn then it is almost impossible to make him/her self-aware. Such a person would not take any advise, especially from
      a junior. Only a person whom he/she respects can try to help.

  • Parikshit Chauhan October 16, 2017

    I have heard everybody born in the Kali-Yuga is a Shudra. Does Veda back this statement?

    My understanding of a Shudra is one who is dependent completely on others for survival.

    Please clarify.

    • Babaji October 18, 2017

      In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krsna says, ” The duty of sudras, born of their nature, consists of rendering service to the other three varnas.”
      Truly speaking, being a sudra is not such a bad thing as people tend to think. A sudra takes pleasure in doing service to others. He is not much inclined to study of sastra, to do business and make money, or engage in management. In that sense, he is an introvert and content, but by the influence of tamas and not that of sattva. At present I have not seen such a sudra. A true sudra would make a good devotee. No wonder that the title for sudra is dasa, which we also use after our name. So what seems to be the lowest in varnasrama is the highest spiritually.

      The word sudra also signifies a person who is very much in the bodily concept of life. From this point of view, most of the present population would fall in this category. From this definition, everyone is born as a sudra.

      So it all depends on how you define a sudra. Based on the definition you can find the answer to your question.

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